~ A Compendium of My Inane Ramblings, Photos & Assorted Detritus of Life

Monthly Archives: June 2012

If you’ve been around Pinterest, Etsy, Ebay or any crafty blogs lately, you’ve seen the craze that’s sweeping the Internet: deco mesh (also called poly sinamay mesh) wreaths. They’re beautiful, fluffy and weatherproof! No wonder people are snatching them up like hotcakes to put on their frontdoors for every holiday! I was especially inspired by this wreath on Picture Perfect Cooking, that I found on Pinterest.

I belong to the school of thought “why buy it when you can make it!?!” As soon as I began seeing all these wreaths coming across my Pinterest feed, I started doing research into how I could make my own. The first thing I learned was, Mardi Gras Outlet, based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, has the best prices & selection of deco mesh ANYWHERE on the internet. I live in a TEENY TINY town that has one sorta-kinda craft store…so I have to order any kind of crafty thing I want on the internet. This place is awesome. They have all the supplies you need, all sorts of colors, widths, lengths, varying wreath sizes & all sorts of accessories to make your wreath really pop. Additionally, they have a blog with fun ideas using their supplies that is updated all the time and a Pinterest board. I cannot recommend them enough. I ordered my supplies on a Sunday and they arrived on Thursday. Pretty darn quick considering I didn’t pay any extra for expedited shipping.

Directions:1. Lay all of your supplies out so you know what you have and it’s within arm’s reach. This is my mise en place as it were. The nice thing about constructing this wreath is, it doesn’t require much in the way of tools. Just something to cut the mesh and the chenille stems. The only other thing you need is your hands.

2. Decide what color you want on the inside ring. If you’re doing all one color then it’s easy. I did three which made it a little more difficult. I chose red for the inside ring. I cut my red chenille stems in half and attached them to the inner ring of the wreath frame, one to each section. I just twisted them on like bread twist-ties. It’s a whole lot easier to twist them on before hand, then to try to hold the mesh in one hand and twist a stem on in the other. Believe me. Once you have the stems twisted on, gather up the end of your mesh, leaving a couple inch tail and attach it with the stem. Here’s where I encountered a bit of a learning curve. I didn’t twist-tie the red mesh on tight enough at first. But, the great thing about the mesh and stems is, it’s all reusable. If it’s not tight enough or a puff isn’t big enough, you can go back and fix it. Once you have the end attached, go out about 6-8 inches, depending on how big you want your puff, and twist-tie again. Keep doing this all the way around.

Just a Little Note: Once you finish the inner ring, you may be thinking or even saying to yourself, like I was, “This thing is skimpy, I can see my chenille stems! This whole thing looks like crap! Why am I even doing this?” But DON’T give up!! It will get better! I promise!! Once you fill it out with the other layers/colors, it looks SO much better.

3. With the next color (white for me), repeat the same process all the way around. Try to keep your puffs about the same size so one color doesn’t overwhelm another. Again, if you’re doing all one color, it really won’t matter, but if you’re doing different colors, you want them all to show evenly.

4. Finally, with the third color, on the outer ring, repeat the process. Make sure once you twist-tie on each length of mesh, to take the ends to the back side of the wreath and twist them back there too. It tightens it and gives the whole thing a cleaner look. It’s a whole lot easier to do this as you go then to have to go back and do it all at once.

5. Once you get all three colors on, you’re done with the mesh. Tuck your tails in, make sure your chenille stems are tight and get ready to accessorize. Like I mentioned before, there’s a serious dearth of decent craft stores in this little berg so I have to rely on the Internet for everything. I opted to go simple for this wreath, for frugality’s sake as well as aesthetics. I got an all-weather American flag bow like the kind you see on mailboxes and such this time of year (have I mentioned I can’t tie a bow to save my life? Yup, I can do pretty much anything else crafty but when it comes to bow-tying, it looks like a monkey did it.) I attached the bow with the gold chenille stem that came with it.

6. Time to show off your work! I hate wreath hangers. Really I do…they either scuff up your door or make it where it won’t close correctly. Plus they position the wreath too high on the door. I like my wreaths pretty much in the middle of the door. So here’s my solution…feel free to steal away! First, because we’re military and rent our homes (so we have to return things the way we found them), I use a Command Hook, stuck to the center inside top of my door, UPSIDE DOWN. Then I use either a matching ribbon, fishing line, or, in this case, dental floss (cause that’s all I could find) loop it through the wire frame of the wreath and hang it from the hook. The floss, ribbon or fishing line is thin enough that it doesn’t impede the door from closing and, if it’s floss or fishing line, you can’t even see it. And, you can’t even see the hook from the inside of the house, it pretty much fades away.

VOILA! Here she is! (The bow is a little crooked, I’m just now noticing…gonna have to fix that tomorrow.)

That’s it! I’d love to see what you make! Leave me a comment with a link to your blog with pictures of your wreaths! Also, feel free to pin this. I’m still trying to figure out how to add a “Pin It” button to a WordPress blog without needing a Computer Science degree.

As you probably already know, Father’s Day is rapidly approaching on Sunday, June 17. My step-father, Aidan’s Papa, is a super easy person to buy for. He is a huge lover of all things wine, travel & Texas History. On top of all that, he is completely crazy about his six grandkids. So, anything I can find that relates to wine, travel, Texas or says something about being the world’s greatest Papa, he’s going to love. He is super easy to shop for for Father’s Day (or any other gift-giving holiday).

My husband, on the other hand, is the world’s most difficult person to shop for!

He’s a gamer, but doesn’t advertise the fact by wearing t-shirts or anything like that. For example: A few years ago, I got him a “Pwn Star” t-shirt. (“Pwn” is l33t speak for pown or “to own”. A gamer term.) I think he wore it once.

He’s an officer in the Army but that doesn’t define who he is, nor does he walk around advertising what he does. Another example: I got him a t-shirt that said “Blue Falcon, buddy is only half the word.” (It’s very much a military thing…suffice it to say, it was a joke he & his roommates in OCS talked about…they called their room the “Blue Falcon’s Nest”). I think he wore it once or twice too. I saw another t-shirt that said “Secret Squirrel”, suggested it to him (he wears A LOT of t-shirts, it’s basically his civilian uniform) and was forbidden from buying it.

He loves technology but isn’t a gadget geek (that’s me…I LOVE gadgets). Anything tech that comes into our house, he purchases because he wants to review the specs, the Consumer Reports, etc. Basically do all the research on.

If I buy him clothes, but those aren’t looked at as “Ooh wow, thanks for the new outfit from Old Navy!” they’re looked at as utilitarian and necessary (is it the soldier in him?)

Lest you think he hasn’t a sentimental bone in his body, he has nearly everything Aidan has ever made for him, most of it hanging in his office, right next to awards from the Army. She has it easy, make him something, put “I love you Daddy” on it and he treasures it forever. Meanwhile, I’m at a loss. They drew and colored a Coke can together (art is something they share), he framed it and hung it in his office. He has a foam necktie with “I ❤ U Dad” that she made for Father’s Day when she was 18mo old in Sunday school in Georgia. That has hung in every office he’s had since she gave it to him. One of our movers folded one of her paintings and he got mad. I guess Father’s Day is easier for kids?

So, I wound up getting him what he asked for, a Craftsman tool chest. He’s quite the handyman around the house (he actually built me an upholstered headboard…post to come about that) and does other handy stuff like install ceiling fans & I think he gets tired of his tools getting spread out. So, off to Craftsman.com I went to find him a nice Craftsman tool chest/cabinet. It’s the Limited Edition Black & Platinum set. I got quite a deal too, the bottom cabinet portion was originally $329 and the top chest was originally $269. Sears marked the bottom half down to $155 & the top half down to $145 AND I didn’t have to pay shipping because they’re in stock at the store so I can pick them up…although Ryan will be getting his gift out of the car himself if I can’t find anyone to lift it out for me, these things weigh nearly 150 lbs together!